The present invention relates generally to an Internet e-commerce business method of promoting products to prospective customers, and instructing and enticing those prospective customers to deal with specific merchants by offering the customers a valuable incentive that is redeemable when the customer purchases from the specific merchant, with the merchant then providing a fee or commission to the Internet company that directed the customer to that merchant.
When making purchases for items, such as, for example, houses, boats, or cars, customers often enlist the aid of a broker or intermediary to assist them in locating items for purchase. Brokers may provide information about the product to be bought as well as information about merchants (or xe2x80x9csellersxe2x80x9d) selling the product. Information may include the quality of the product and the merchants, other prices, and the like. This information allows a customer (or xe2x80x9cbuyerxe2x80x9d) to make an informed decision with regard to which products to purchase and at what price. For some types of items, such as real estate, sellers of the items typically pay a commission to the brokers involved in the transaction. When the buyer uses a broker""s agent, commonly called a co-broker, the commission is divided between the co-broker and the seller""s broker. For example, in many situations, the total commission paid on the sale of a house is six percent. In that situation, the seller""s broker and the co-broker each will typically receive three percent of the purchase price of the house as a commission.
This same situation may also apply with the sale of new houses, where the new house is being sold directly by the builder of the house. The new house builder retains a broker to act as his agent and if the volume of houses is significant, the new house builder may be able to negotiate a reduced percentage arrangement with that broker. The new house builder, however, usually must pay a full 3% to any co-broker that brings him a buyer because the co-broker will not bring him buyers if he is not going to receive the xe2x80x9cnormalxe2x80x9d commission. With such a system, the new house builder must pay up to six percent of the sale price of the house which represents a significant cost for the new house builder.
Several World Wide Web sites have been developed to assist the new house builder in identifying potential purchasers. For example, many new house builders have a web site of their own dedicated to houses that they build. Some of these sites may even provide a directory of neighborhoods that the particular builder is developing.
Other web sites provide a listing of homes by region with a number of different builders being listed. This provides the advantage of providing a single location that a house buyer may visit in order to look for a house to purchase. While these sites may seem advantageous to house buyers, they are costly to the house builders. These sites typically charge a fee for the house builders to be included in the directory. This cost represents an additional cost to the house builder that is undesirable.
These and other drawbacks exist with existing systems.
An object of the present invention is to overcome these and other drawbacks in existing systems and methods.
Another object of the invention is to provide a mutually beneficial environment for bringing together buyers and sellers for the purchase of items that typically involve a commission for a third party paid by either the buyer or the seller of the item.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a central system that promotes an item-for-sale over a network to potential purchasers with an incentive to those potential purchasers to purchase the item. That incentive, or reward, is provided by the operator of the central system only after the purchase is made, and only after the purchaser has notified the operator of the central system that he has made the purchase.
Another object of the invention is to provide a new business method for eliminating agent""s commissions in the sale of items through the use of a central system for bringing together buyers and sellers of items.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a business method that provides financial incentives for sellers to participate in a central directory system by offering to provide their content in exchange for a fee paid based on sales generated.
These and other objects of the invention are accomplished according to various embodiments of the invention. The present invention provides an item locator system that comprises a repository of information about items for purchase. Users may connect to the item locator system to identify an item for purchase and the identity of the seller of the item. Along with each item, the user may be presented with an incentive to execute the purchase. The user then executes the purchase with the seller, and receives a proof of purchase. The user may then advise the system operator of his purchase and the operator of the central system then provides the purchaser with the valuable reward promised.
As part of this method, the item locator system may have an agreement with item sellers whose items are being displayed. The item locator system agrees to provide information about the item provider and his products, to its users in exchange for a fee based on the actual sale of the item. The fee may be set as a percentage of the sale price of the item, may be a flat fee or may be some other type of fee arrangement.
In one embodiment, the present invention may comprise a method relating to sale of new houses through a web-site accessible by potential buyers over the Internet. The potential buyers utilize a web browser system to connect to a server providing a web site displaying new houses. The web site may enable the user to search for and locate a new house to be purchased. The web-site further provides an incentive (or reward) to encourage the user to purchase the new house. The potential buyer then takes the information provided by the web-site and visits the new house seller. If a purchase is completed between the buyer and the seller, then the buyer returns to the web-site to collect the promised reward. The reward is provided upon verification that a purchase took place between the buyer and the seller. The operator of the central system may be paid a commission or fee that may be received at the closing or settlement of the sale from the seller to the buyer. The operator of the central system web-site provides the promised reward to the purchaser or issues a certification that entitles the buyer to the incentive through another entity, as a method of checking that the seller has paid the agreed fee to the operator of the central system.
In one embodiment, as part of the incentive, the buyer agrees to forego use of a co-broker that otherwise would be entitled to a commission. The fee or commission paid by the seller to the operator of the central system may be less than a fee to which a co-broker would ordinarily be entitled. Further, the web-site may forego up-front payment from the seller for promoting his homes for sale and presenting the builder""s information because they receive the agreed fee only when and if a sale occurs.
A method and system according to the present invention provides advantages and economic incentives for all involved through the elimination of the co-broker""s fee. Specifically, the house seller benefits from avoiding a 3% co-broker""s fee and receives advertising in a widely distributed environment without any up front cost. Therefore, house sellers are provided an incentive to participate in this system to reduce their overall sales and marketing costs and to be introduced to motivated buyers.
Purchasers are provided an incentive to use the system because of the value of the incentive and the convenience in locating new houses. The incentive may be significant depending on the type of house being purchased. For example, the incentive may be a percentage rebate on the house of one or more percentage points for larger purchases.
Finally, the web-site operator benefits by making a fee paid to him by the seller. Due to the price of new houses, even a small percentage commission could yield significant revenues that would overshadow the incentive costs and costs of operating the web-site.
Accordingly, this new business method and system for employing this business method utilize web-based technology to bring together buyers and sellers for their mutual benefit. Other objects and advantages exist for the present invention.